We have been working with the Greenbelt Group, the Police, the City Council and other agencies to deal with the historic problems of anti social behaviour, primarily relating to vandalism, under age drinking and dog fouling.We have achieved a significant reduction in this behaviour and along side this we are looking at a longer-term plan of refurbishment, renewal and provision of extra facilities on the site.We are also involving young people and neighbouring schools to assisting with the work and improvements on the park in order to elicit a feeling of community ownership. The three local Primary Schools and two high schools have been actively involved in our work programme.We have been involved in planting over 5000 Bluebell bulbs in the woodland and daffodils on the park.Local residents and students from Bruntcliffe High School worked on the preparation of the planting beds and the construction of a foot path through the woodland area of the park. The school students undertook the work as part of a course of study in a new curriculum area which involves community involvement. We have also completed a tree planting scheme and 140 new trees have been planted.
Our Aims are as follows:
We aim to increase participation and access to the park and woodland area.
We have already, as a result of our activities, increased the number of people enjoying the park and its facilities.Previously, many people in the local community had stopped using the facilities because of the inadequate maintenance and antisocial behaviour.This has changed and the facilities are being enjoyed by many more people, especially young people.
We have successfully organised a number of events with the following aims in mind:
1) Improve the appearance and facilities of the park and woodland.
·Held several clean up days to remove litter, fly tipping, broken glass and rubbish from the park, woods and pond.
·Establish a positive working relationship with the Greenbelt Group and to ensure they meet their obligation to maintain the park.
·Secure funding to improve facilities in the park and wood and commenced work on the woodland from Autumn 2006.
2)Attract families and young people to the park and woodland.
·Hold an annual family fun day with the first having been held in July 2006.
·Raise awareness of the park through group meetings and newsletters.
·Fit goal posts and create a pitch and ensure the grass is cut regularly so people can play football.
·Work with local schools and young people to get them involved in activities in the park.
·Hold football tournaments to encourage positive uses of the park by young people.
3) Reduce anti-social behaviour in the park, woodland and local neighbourhood.
·Challenge anti-social behaviour of teenage drinking, vandalism, littering and dog fouling.
·Work with the local community, schools, police, council and anti-social behaviour unit.
·Set up a neighbourhood watch scheme.
·Established a “dog free zone” as part of our aim to reduce the menace of dog fouling.
We aim to increase participation by young people by developing a positive programme of activities in conjunction with local schools
By engaging school pupils and students in our work programme this is providing further encouragement to young people to become involved and use the park and woodland areas.As part of our work programme, we are considering various ways in which we can encourage young people to take a greater interest in the natural environment.We intend to discuss with local schools the possibility of utilising the woodland and pond as part of their school time activities.We hope that by encouraging the greater diversity of wildlife this will also encourage a greater interest in the area, particularly by young people, but by all those in the local community who can participate and generate a greater interest in the natural environment.In addition to school-based activities, the friends group would be wishing to organise specific events during the year involving the local community to develop a greater enthusiasm in the natural environment.
We aim to improve biodiversity and wildlife habitats that are accessible to all in the local community
We believe the enhancements to the woodland and the pond will encourage greater use by wild animals, birds and insects. The introduction of wild flowers and woodland grasses will assist significantly in developing a greater biodiversity in the woodland area.Opening up the tree canopy and undertaking tree planting, introducing a mixture of native tree varieties, will further assist this process in the longer term.By developing an ongoing programme of woodland management, tree planting, providing nesting places and habitats for birds and wild animals and roosting sites for bats, there will be a gradual increase in the utilisation of the area by wildlife.The provision of log piles will also provide habitats for insects and small mammals.The development of the natural pond will assist considerably in encouraging biodiversity. The pond in particular could be a major attraction to various forms of wildlife if we are able to undertake its refurbishment, ensuring adequate supply of water and develop an environmental maintenance programme to make sure that it is attractive to wildlife in the area.
